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Tag: wikileaks
Former FBI Official Says Trump Must Beware Extradition Of Julian Assange

Former FBI Official Says Trump Must Beware Extradition Of Julian Assange

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

In the United Kingdom, the High Court has ruled that WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI special agent and counterintelligence expert, analyzes this development in an opinion column published by MSNBC on December 15 — and argues that Assange’s extradition could be bad news for former President Donald Trump.

“Former President Donald Trump already faces a future filled with legal battles in multiple federal, state and local jurisdictions from Georgia to the District of Columbia to New York State and Manhattan,” explains Figliuzzi, a frequent guest on MSNBC’s cable news shows. “And now, a British court decision against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could resurrect the two seminal questions from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation: Did Trump obstruct justice, and did his campaign collude with Russia? Assange, an Australian citizen sitting in Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh in Southeast London, may hold the key that reopens the prosecutive possibilities.”

The espionage charges against Assange in the U.S., Figliuzzi notes, stem “from his 2010 publication of State Department and Defense Department files provided by Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst.”

“The charges against Assange concern whether an organization that exists primarily to solicit and disseminate illegally obtained government secrets can be considered a media organization entitled to First Amendment protections,” Figliuzzi observes. “They are not based on WikiLeaks publishing Democratic Party e-mails hacked by the Russian government in support of Trump during the 2016 election. Even so, for his sake, Trump better hope that the notorious hacker and leaker never sets foot on U.S. soil, because if the Department of Justice plays its cards right, it can make the case precisely about those Russian government hacks and WikiLeaks’ dissemination of the content of those hacks by offering a deal to Assange in return for what he knows. That’s what should worry Trump and his allies.”

Figliuzzi points out that when Mueller delivered his final report on the Russia probe, he found that the 2016 Trump campaign’s interactions with Russians “didn’t rise to the level of criminal conspiracy.” But Assange, according to the former FBI special agent, “may be able to close the gap between collusion and criminal conspiracy.”

Figliuzzi argues, “As for obstruction, the second focus of the Mueller team, Assange can help there as well…. Assange may be able to help the U.S. government in exchange for more lenient charges or a plea deal. Prosecutions can make for strange bedfellows. A trade that offers a deal to a thief who steals data, in return for him flipping on someone who tried to steal democracy sounds like a deal worth doing. So, DOJ, if you’re listening….”

Ron Paul: Trump Does The Bidding Of ‘Deep State’

Ron Paul: Trump Does The Bidding Of ‘Deep State’

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

For many years, former Rep. Ron Paul was the most prominent libertarian in Congress — often frustrating fellow Republicans by voting against their spending bills. Paul, now 84, left Congress in early January 2013 but still speaks out about politics. And in his February 24 column for the Ron Paul Institute’s website, the Texas libertarian is vehemently critical of President Donald Trump for, as he sees it, throwing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the bus.

Paul hasn’t always been critical of Trump. The former Texas congressman asserts that in 2016, Trump “upset the Washington apple cart” and “set elements of the Deep State in motion against him.” But Paul quickly adds that Trump has since become part of the “Deep State” he once challenged.

“Trump loved it when WikiLeaks exposed the criminality of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as it cheated to deprive Bernie Sanders of the Democratic Party nomination,” Paul writes. “WikiLeaks’ release of the (Democratic National Committee) e-mails exposed the deep corruption at the heart of U.S. politics, and as a candidate, Trump loved the transparency. Then Trump got elected.”

Paul goes on to say that the “real tragedy of the Trump presidency” is “nowhere better demonstrated than in Trump’s 180-degree turn away from WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.”

According to Paul, Trump’s administration is pushing for a “show trial of Assange worthy of the worst of the Soviet era” — and the U.S. “is seeking a 175-year prison sentence.”

“It is ironic that a President Trump, who has been (a) victim of so much Deep State meddling, has done the Deep State’s bidding when it comes to Assange and WikiLeaks,” Paul laments. “President Trump should preempt the inevitable U.S. show trial of Assange by granting the journalist blanket pardon under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
Mueller Hits Trump Hard For Encouraging Wikileaks’ ‘Illegal Activities’

Mueller Hits Trump Hard For Encouraging Wikileaks’ ‘Illegal Activities’

Trump repeatedly said he ‘loves’ WikiLeaks. That’s a real problem to special counsel Robert Mueller.

Special counsel Robert Mueller had harsh words about Trump’s exuberant praise of WikiLeaks, the organization that illegally released emails from the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. During a Wednesday hearing with the House Intelligence Committee, Mueller called Trump’s actions “problematic.”

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) noted during the hearing that Mike Pompeo, when he was director of the CIA, had assessed WikiLeaks as “a hostile intelligence service.” Mueller agreed with that view.

Quigley then read numerous statements by Trump, who frequently praised the outlet during the 2016 campaign.

“I love WikiLeaks,” he said. “This WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable.” “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”

Quigley asked if those quotes disturbed Mueller and how he reacted to them.

“Problematic is an understatement,” Mueller replied, “in terms of what it displays and giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity.”

Trump praised Wikileaks more than 140 times in the final month of the campaign.

After its founder Julian Assange was indicted in April of this year on federal charges, Trump tried to walk back his adoring praise, claiming, “I know nothing about WikiLeaks.”

During both the earlier Judiciary Committee hearing and the Intelligence hearing, Mueller has confirmed that the Trump campaign welcomed help from hostile entities like WikiLeaks, and even created campaign plans to maximize the impact of the illegal leaks.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

Newly Unsealed Documents Reveal Fresh Details Of Flynn Cooperation

Newly Unsealed Documents Reveal Fresh Details Of Flynn Cooperation

Court documents from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team revealing details about the cooperation of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and campaign aide, were unsealed on Thursday.

The new information shows Flynn was particularly helpful to the team in the investigations of both WikiLeaks and of potential efforts to obstruct his testimony.

Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, and after that, he became a cooperating witness for Mueller. He has yet to be sentenced for his crime.

“The defendant informed the government of multiple instances, both before and after his guilty plea, where either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the Administration or Congress that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation,” the documents said. “The defendant even provided a voicemail recording of one such communication. In some of those instances, the [special counsel] was unaware of the outreach until being alerted to it by the defendant.”

While Mueller made clear in his final report that he believed Trump likely tried to obstruct justice by encouraging witnesses not to testify, it’s not clear who in Congress might also be implicated in such a scheme.

Flynn also revealed to Mueller behind-the-scenes details of the Trump campaign’s reactions to WikiLeaks’ email dumps. The FBI has assessed that WikiLeaks was essentially acting as a proxy for Russian intelligence, an accusation that the group and its founder Julian Assange have denied.

“The defendant relayed to the government statements made in 2016 by senior campaign officials about WikiLeaks to which only a select few people were privy,” Mueller’s team explained. “For example, the defendant recalled conversations with senior campaign officials after the release of the Podesta emails, during which the prospect of reaching out to WikiLeaks was discussed.”